The Cost of Doing Business With Mary Kay
Reader Bill shares his experience with Mary Kay. His wife put his family in debt with Mary Kay, and the lies and financial wreckage eventually led to the end of their marriage.
Everything on this website encapsulates my story. I won’t waste time repeating what has already been said so well and in so many different stories. My surprise is, I thought I was unique: her quitting her job with no discussion. Her explaining that I would have tried to talk her out of the change as her excuse (she had a great government job with great benefits). Later telling me I didn’t support her and I was a negative in her life. In all of this, I thought it was just me (and made me doubt myself).
Then there’s the financial destruction. 19 different credit accounts and 3 different bank accounts. Buying thousands of dollars of product for “necessary inventory” that was never sold. Income tax losses every year. Check kiting and flipping credit cards to pay bills. All for the sake of walking across the stage in Dallas, taking trip to the Bahamas, and “earning” the pink noose (the pink car is not free).
Again, I thought it was just me, I thought it was just my wife making bad, irresponsible, decisions. Now I discover the truth. The dinners and meetings I attended in support of my wife made me out to be the fool; the smiling “sweet” vixen of a director(s) was promoting this sly and destructive activity that led to the demise of our relationship, our finances, and our family.
So what was the cost, the damage?
We divorced after 29 years of marriage. Our family is disrupted forever, my daughter and her family are torn, and my granddaughter will never be able to experience family life with her grandparents like I was blessed to experience.
Financially, my wife’s irresponsible actions (with MK’s guidance) led to the wasting of her inheritance. If it had stayed invested, in place, it would have grown to over $1,000,000 today (she had $15,000 remaining at the time we divorced).
Her perpetual use of accumulated credit, to between $100,000 to $200,000 of debt, led to the steady leeching from my cash accounts and her shifting more than $100,000 of debt to our home equity line of credit. Additionally, she continued to accumulate debt to $40,000 – $50,000, had to do a debt consolidation, and now has a horrible credit history; her current debt payments mount to over $800/mo and she has no income.
All of this has crippled my ability to save and will dramatically postpone any plans for retirement. I will bought her out of our house, but had to take on the inflated mortgage and I had to assume all accumulated joint debt (of which most I did not know about), and I split my retirement plan assets with her in the divorce. Of course, since she has no income, I have alimony payments plus her monthly health insurance costs.
Most importantly, while I am not perfect and made mistakes, this is Mary Kay’s contribution to the destruction of our vows made before God, family, and friends some 29 years earlier. This is my story, but evidently the story of many others! I post this so that maybe my trials and experience may help to save other families from my(our) conviction. So think about it?
THIS IS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
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OUCH 🥺 over a million dollars lost and a family ruined for the sake of MK.
I’m glad you wrote in because it’s so important to remember the real harm being done to real lives by this “woman-empoweri g” scam.
Female empowerment my a**. And to think she could have paid for her own car and her own trip to the Bahamas, not to mention set herself up for a robust retirement if she had just kept her J.O.B. and not touched her inheritance. Few are blessed with a retirement nestegg like that…what a missed opportunity. Ug…that is so frustrating!
My heart hurts for you Bill. I just retired this year, and key to this was having my wife on the same page as me wrt debt and savings. We resisted the temptation to live beyond our means, buying used cars and never carrying a credit card balance. We did not buy the most expensive house we could afford. We don’t subscribe to “fake it til you make it.” I maxed out my 401K contributions for decades and we invested and never touched any/all inheritance. Same with bonuses and tax refunds…all invested.
We agreed early on that I would fund our retirement, and my wife would pay for kids’ college. 100% of her paycheck has always gone direct deposit into our college savings account. We never touch her income for household use. She is choosing to work a few more years so we won’t have to borrow for college (two are through, one is halfway through, the last starts college in fall 2025).
When the household is familiar with living on less than a full paycheck, they don’t miss that money. But you need a partner who shares your values to make that work. Mary Kay created a wedge in your marriage (they actually do this on purpose), and just look at the carnage. My jaw dropped reading your post. I hope your story inspires others avoid the traps of MLMs like Mary Kay, those greedy SOBs!
Hang in there Bill. It is my hope and prayer that good things will come your way, and that you can put this disaster in your rear-view. It drives me crazy hearing that you have recurring costs to you personally because of this. Your ex has to live with her mistakes. Mary Kay not only gets off scott-free, they profited off your wife’s foolishness. This may be what I hate most about MLMs like Mary Kay.
I shared my experience not to brag or belittle you Bill, but to offer a contrast to readers from what Mary Kay promotes. “Fake it til you make it” is a recipe for disaster, and the short term accolades in Mary Kay can come with a significant long term cost, as your story reveals.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. This one is going to stick with me…you will be in my thoughts and prayers.
My surprise is, I thought I was unique: her quitting her job with no discussion. Her explaining that I would have tried to talk her out of the change as her excuse (she had a great government job with great benefits)
Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission is horribly manipulative. Little wonder that it is part of the MK mindset.
Interesting contrast/juxtaposition with yesterday’s post. “And that as they say, is the rest of the story.” While I’ve truly sorry in reading this story, I take some solace that someone will read it, and quickly see through the MOUNTAIN of rubbish MK is.
Bill, your experience is indeed heartbreaking & beyond outrageous. Your ex-wife should get off her kiester & GET A JOB!! I don’t know what state you live in, but I can tell you that in several states I’ve lived in, alimony was only temporary until the individual receiving it was back on his or her feet within a set period of time. My prayer is that you’re not stuck paying alimony for the rest of your life or hers. You and your family have been punished enough. Thanks for sharing your story.
There needs to be a hell, there absolutely needs to be a hell for this level of evil. This level of evil is now generational. Families utterly destroyed from the futures they were entitled to. I don’t mean the money, I mean the grandchildren will never have a clue what kind of whole life experiences they might have had EXCEPT FOR THE EVIL OF MARY KAY ASH. And her many descendants who were forged from her sickness.
And as I saw elsewhere, SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS TO EARN A LUNCH BAG. This is literally the descendants of mary kay ash laughing openly at the people they are exploiting in plain, wide view.
SEVENTEEN THOUSAND views of the link and short blurb on Reddit so far … I hope they pop over here and read the whole post.
What isn’t talked about enough is the addiction. Addiction to ordering, and thinking they will sell the inventory. Addiction to the recognition, the praise they get from others-and addiction to the weekly and monthly brainwashing that is learned in Mary Kay. Addiction as we know can ruin relationships and tear families apart if the person does not get help. Unfortunately these addicted women are in denial and corporate Mary Kay does not care. As long as Mary Kay Cosmetics is in business and they keep the same business model the addiction will continue, MKC will make a lot of money and more relationships and families will be torn apart.